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alors que

English translation: By contrast (here)

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:alors que
English translation:By contrast (here)
Entered by: Jana Cole

12:49 May 26, 2017
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
French term or phrase: alors que
This is from an interview with a professional pop singer.

I want to be sure of the meaning of alors que in this context, because if it means something like "while," "although" or "whereas," then the sentence could be interpreted as incomplete. Perhaps whereas means "but" in this context?

Quand on écoute les enregistrements des Everly Brothers à cette époque, ils n’ont pas pris une ride. Quand on écoute de vieux enregistrements d’Elvis Presley, c’est pareil. Ils ont un son extraordinaire, parce que ce qui se passe derrière est d’une grande qualité. Il y a quelques années, je suis allé voir Serge chez lui. Quand je suis arrivée, il écoutait « In the Ghetto » de Presley. Encore plus fort que moi ! Trop fort, même. Et il était en extase devant Presley, devant le son de l’enregistrement… *** Alors que *** parmi les premiers chanteurs de la vague dite yéyé – à part Richard Anthony, qui est allé enregistrer en Angleterre, et Eddy Mitchell, qui avait son groupe –, on a eu, Johnny et moi, de très mauvaises réalisations musicales, avec de mauvais musiciens et un mauvais son. Je m’en souviens parfaitement.
Jana Cole
United States
Local time: 22:10
By contrast (here)
Explanation:
it really does mean "whereas" but you could use the above instead.

Johnny and I, by contrast, we had lousy musicians and lousy sound technicians.

You could also say : Unlike those greats, we came off badly with our poor musicians and bad quality recordings.

It's only spoken language so not always grammatically perfect
Selected response from:

polyglot45
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +7By contrast (here)
polyglot45
4 +2whereas
dwt2


  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +7
By contrast (here)


Explanation:
it really does mean "whereas" but you could use the above instead.

Johnny and I, by contrast, we had lousy musicians and lousy sound technicians.

You could also say : Unlike those greats, we came off badly with our poor musicians and bad quality recordings.

It's only spoken language so not always grammatically perfect

polyglot45
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 227
Notes to answerer
Asker: I was thinking this, too. See my next posted question.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  writeaway: this is such everyday conversational French...
9 mins
agree  Tony M: In fact, 'while' is all it really needs... it is informal transcribed speech, after all.
26 mins
agree  katsy
27 mins
agree  Victoria Britten
1 hr
agree  Michele Fauble
3 hrs
agree  B D Finch: Or: "while", "but", "but you know" ... . The current bit of verbal padding is "So, ...".
4 hrs
agree  James A. Walsh
1 day 22 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
whereas


Explanation:
Seems straightforward use here in contrasting the experiences of the two sets of singers.

dwt2
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:10
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Thomas T. Frost: Indeed, writeaway and Tony have a point.
2 mins
neutral  writeaway: whereas is the meaning but it doesn't really fit the low-key register
8 mins
agree  katsy
26 mins
neutral  Tony M: Agree with the point made by W/A: 'whereas' would really stick out like a sore thumb in this text!
26 mins
agree  Verginia Ophof
1 hr
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